Not Just Another Love Story
by DreamingPhoenix
Summary: The Marauders meddle with Snape's love-life, but even they don't know just how much havoc this prank will cause!
1. Chapter Eins

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Disclaimer: All hail the great JK Rowling, she created Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, Lily, Snivellus and all the characters you recognise! Ariella Higgins and some characters to come are MINE, and all MINE, so there. ;) If you happen to have a character in your story called Ariella Higgins -- uhh, sorry, but it's completely coincidental!  
  
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**Chapter One**  
  
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"Do I love him?" Lily Evans sighed, mainly to herself, referring to Sirius Black, but her best friend Ariella Higgins had all ears open.  
  
"Impossible," Ariella replied, sliding herself down to sit next to Lily, their backs against Lily's four-poster. "You can't know until you actually get with him. Infatuation, I say."  
  
"How do you know, Ariella, you've only ever been out with a guy once," Lily said, smiling and running her fingers through her thick crimson hair. "Nothing against you, of course. Will you be asking Lupin out anytime this century? Before the sparks flying between the both of you burn me to death?"  
  
"It could be a possibility," said Ariella with a swift smile -- a smile that only Ariella could do. "He asked me if he could borrow my quill yesterday," Ariella added with a short giggle.  
  
"Oh, goodie!" said Lily sarcastically. "Should we have a party?"  
  
"Actually, I am feeling a bit social," said Ariella, standing up, grabbing Lily by the hand and pulling her to her feet as well. "Care to go down to the Common Room? I promise you can stare at Black as much as you like, as long as I get to stare at my Moony."  
  
"Moony?" Lily repeated, confused, as the two girls closed the dormitory door behind them.  
  
Ariella shrugged.  
  
"It's what his friends called him."  
  
"I thought so," said Lily, eyebrows furrowed. "They all have such stupid nicknames."  
  
They girls reached the Common Room, which was only half-full due to the fact that most of the students were Hogsmeade for a special Valentines Day night visit. However, a certain group of Gryffindor Seventh Year boys were huddled together by the window, discussing -- something no doubt mischievous.  
  
"Look at him," said Ariella, sighing dreamily at Lupin after she and Lily had settled themselves down into two armchairs by the roaring fire that faced James, Sirius, Remus and Peter's group. "His hair, so soft and such a lovely colour --"  
  
"May I ask you a question, Ariella?" Lily said, lounging back in her armchair. "Do you actually like Remus or his hair?"  
  
"Both," said Ariella with another swift smile.  
  
Lily couldn't stand watching Sirius run his fingers through his hair every twenty seconds, no matter how much she liked him, so she took her eyes off him for a while, and began to watch Ariella stare continually at Remus.  
  
Lily was quite jealous of Ariella's innocent, furiously curly blonde hair which reached past her shoulders. Ariella didn't even need a spell to do it -- her hair was natural. She was really quite tall as well, about three inches taller than Lily, and gangly as well. Ariella wasn't the smarter one out of the two, Lily being the one to help her with homework (although Ariella often asked Remus sweetly for him to help her). But what she lacked in intelligence she more than certainly made up for in kindness and humour. It was Ariella who always had a comforting arm, a joke to shine through the darkness.  
  
Lily's eyes moved inevitably from Ariella to the boys. The Marauders they called themselves. James and Sirius -- the idiots; the pranksters; the ones that always got a laugh. Remus -- the only one with a sensible streak, but still an idiot. Peter -- the follower; the hopeless one. They made her laugh, and still did sometimes (especially when it was Sirius telling the joke), but by Seventh Year it was just a little hard not to be a bit tired of some of their pranks. You had to hand it to the boys; their tricks were all ingenious due to the fact that they spent more time planning them than doing their homework.  
  
Her eyes flitted back to Ariella, who was still staring at Remus. Lily was afraid that her friend would soon bore a hole through him by her constant staring, so she decided to begin a conversation.  
  
"You ... uh ... didn't happen to get anything for Valentines Day today, did you Ariella?" Lily inquired.  
  
"As a matter of fact, I did," said Ariella, finally swinging around to speak to her friend. "I have no idea who sent it, but ..."  
  
Ariella shrugged, reached into her pocket, pulled out a violet piece of parchment and handed it to Lily. Lily unfolded it and began to read:  
  
Dearest Ariella, Over the years I have been watching every one of your graceful moves. I am  
dearly in love with you.  
Your eyes are like the ocean, and just as deep. Your face is like an  
angel's, as is your voice. Every single strand of your hair is like a  
flowing stream golden in the sunlight.  
Ariella Higgins, you have charmed me.  
Have a magical Valentines Day.  
Yours truly,  
..............  
  
"Oh," said Lily, frowning. "His name appears to be Dot Dot Dot, Dot Dot Dot Dot, Dot Dot Dot Dot Dot, Dot Dot. I can imagine, when you get married they'll say, 'I now present to you, Mr and Mrs Dot Dot Dot Dot Dot.'"  
  
Ariella rolled her eyes.  
  
"I knew you'd make fun of me, that's why I didn't show it to you this morning," Ariella said, snatching back the letter. "So -- who do you think gave it to me?"  
  
"It obviously wasn't Potter," said Lily, "his vocabulary doesn't extend as far as 'Your eyes are like the ocean, and just as deep.'"  
  
"I guess that rules Sirius out as well," said Ariella smoothly. Lily opened her mouth to object, but then privately agreed with Ariella.  
  
It wasn't his brain cells that attracted Lily; it was his scruffy black hair that his fingers frequently made their way through, his steely grey eyes almost always smiling with excitement, his shirt that always had the top two buttons undone ...  
  
"Earth to Lily: do you realise you've been checking Black out for the last minute?" Ariella's voice rang through Lily's ears. She was right. Lily's eyes quickly snapped back to her best friend.  
  
"Yeah ... sorry, Ariella," said Lily.  
  
"What about Remus?" said Ariella hopefully.  
  
Lily grabbed the letter off of Ariella again and re-read it.  
  
"'Ariella Higgins, you have charmed me.'" Lily read. "Somehow, that doesn't really sound like Remus. If he was going to write a love letter it would be a poem."  
  
"Since when are you an expert on Remus?" queried Ariella.  
  
"Because," Lily replied, "I remember talking to him about what we found romantic last year, and he said he thinks poems are incredibly romantic."  
  
"Interesting," Ariella said vaguely. "Mental note to self: if I ever write Remus a love letter, I'll make sure it's a poem."  
  
"Hmm," said Lily pensively. "How did you get the letter? Did someone give it to you, or did you just find it on your bedside table or ... what?"  
  
"Erm, it actually flew into the side of my head," answered Ariella.  
  
"Flew?"  
  
"Yeah," said Ariella, nodding. "It was a paper plane, and I'm guessing that it came in through our dormitory window."  
  
"Oh, wonderful," said Lily sardonically, "that means that it could have been anyone. It could have been Scarlett playing a trick on you."  
  
"I hope not," Ariella said. Mirabelle Scarlett was a Slytherin girl in the same year as Lily and Ariella. She was a stuck-up rich snob, tall with black ringlets and pale white skin, and didn't get on with Lily and Ariella very well.  
  
"I say we either shouldn't even bother finding out who wrote this, or worry about it in the morning," said Lily. "Let's go back up to the dorm."  
  
Ariella nodded, and she and Lily stood up, spun around to head over to the Girls' staircase, but found themselves face-to-face with James, Sirius and Remus, and Peter hidden behind them.  
  
Sirius -- Lily's heart skipped a beat, and she could almost feel Ariella's heart do the same as her wide blue eyes fixed themselves on Remus.  
  
"You can't be going to bed yet, girls," said Sirius suavely, grinning at James. "We were just coming to talk."  
  
"About ...?" Ariella asked, but Sirius had his hands on Lily and Ariella's backs, gently forcing them to sit back in their armchairs. James, Remus and Peter had taken a seat opposite the girls, and Sirius flopped back between James and Sirius.  
  
"About our great mate, Snivellus," said James. "You know, we just can't stand slimy little toe rags such as Snivelly. We're looking for a little assistance from you two."  
  
"As in, helping you out with some dumb prank?" Lily said. "I'm telling you now -- no, no ... and no."  
  
"It's not a dumb prank!" said Sirius defensively. "It's pure genius!"  
  
"And we just need some beautiful girls such as yourselves to help out," said Remus, winking at Lily and Ariella. Ariella turned pink.  
  
Wow, Lily thought. It must be a good prank if Lupin's encouraging it, and he's meant to be the sensible one.  
  
Lily sighed and folded her arms.  
  
"Fine, guys, tell us what you want us to do, and we might consider it."  
  
James signaled for them all to lean, looked around the common room for any eavesdroppers and then leant in himself, beginning to explain the latest Marauder joke.  
  
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A/N: I wonder what the Marauders are up to...? Hmm. There's my first ever chapter! I would really appreciate it if you reviewed my story, so please do so! Constructive criticism is most welcome. xoxo DreamingPhoenix  
  
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	2. Chapter Zwei

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** Chapter Two **  
  
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"Right," said James, with a smirk on his face, "we've got everything worked out, we just need your co-operation."  
  
Lily rolled her eyes, but none of the Marauders noticed. She had a bad feeling about this.  
  
"As you might have noticed, girls," said Sirius, "today is Valentines Day. Time for some loving, eh?"  
  
Lily convinced her heart not to jump out of her throat.  
  
"You might have seen a couple here and there," Sirius was continuing, "as us guys certainly did. And we thought to ourselves, why shouldn't greasy- haired gits such as Snivelly miss out on all the fun?"  
  
"I think I can see where this is going," said Ariella under her breath.  
  
"We could hardly not notice," said James, "that Snivellus has some -- uh -- feelings for a certain Miss Mirabelle Scarlett in Slytherin --"  
  
"How do you know?" Ariella interjected.  
  
Unexpectedly, the Marauders burst into very loud laughter.  
  
"How could you not notice?" James asked, shaking with laughter.  
  
Sirius recovered enough to impersonate Snape when he was around Scarlett.  
  
"M-may I take your books back to the common room, Mirabelle? I'd just love to lick them with my slimy tongue --"  
  
Lily cracked up.  
  
"Snape ... and girls ... it just doesn't fit!" she said between giggles.  
  
"Oh, it fits all right," said James. He pulled a crumpled pieve of parchment out of his pocket, flattened it out and shoved it under Lily and Ariella's faces. "Check that out. Snapey chucked it into the dustbin in the Potions classroom yesterday and I grabbed it out. Juicy stuff.  
  
Ariella snatched the piece of parchment out of James's hand and read it aloud.  
  
"Severus 4 Mirabelle -- forever," she read, and began sniggering uncontrollably. "That's just --"  
  
"-- Hilarious!" said Lily, cackling.  
  
"All right, Snape's crushed on Scarlett, but what's this got to do with us?" Ariella inquired.  
  
"Ah, now we get to the juicy stuff!" said Sirius, looking excitedly at the girls. "Would you be willing, for, say, the next week or so, to use Polyjuice Potion to turn into Mirabelle Scarlett? And lead old Snivelly on?"  
  
"WHAT?!" Lily shrieked incredulously, her eyes and mouth very wide. "If you think we're going to run around the castle looking like snobby sluts and snogging Snape you've got another thing coming! And... Polyjuice Potion! That's seriously dangerous stuff!"  
  
"You haven't head what's in it for you yet, though!" said James hurriedly, worried that Lily and Ariella might suddenly to decide that this was all rubbish and that they were going back up to their dormitory.  
  
"All right then, James, tell us -- what's in this for us?" asked Ariella smoothly, an eye brow raised.  
  
"We -- er --" Sirius said, obviously thinking furiously. It seemed that James, Sirius, Remus and Peter hadn't exactly thought through what they would offer Lily and Ariella as compensation for macking on Snape.  
  
"If you do this for us," said James, grinning, "Sirius will go out with the both of you."  
  
"What?" said Sirius, startled.  
  
"No!" Ariella said quickly. "What if we don't want to go out with Sirius?" Her eyes were twinkling in the direction of Remus.  
  
"But --" Lily began.  
  
"Wait," said Remus calmly, "I can think of a better reward for them --"  
  
"They can both go out with me!" James suggested, eyebrows raised cockily.  
  
"Oh for God's sake give it a rest, Potter," Lily snapped at him. "Unless you're going to give us something actually worth doing this for we won't be doing it."  
  
"Fine," said Sirius. "We'll need to think and talk about this. Anyone have any ideas? What about you, Wormtail?"  
  
Peter shrugged.  
  
"We could ..." Remus started, but then hesitated.  
  
"What Moony?" James urged. "Just tell us!"  
  
"We could give them ... the Cloak for the rest of the year ... perhaps ..."  
  
There was a silence, during which the Marauders were looking pensive and the girls were looking curious.  
  
"Of course!" said James finally. "The Cloak! You really are a genius, Moony."  
  
"Cloak?" Ariella repeated, confused. "Why would we want some Cloak?"  
  
"It's not just some Cloak, Higgins," Sirius explained excitedly. "It's an Invisibility Cloak!"  
  
"What?" said Lily, looking both amused and incredulous at the same time. "An Invisibility Cloak -- a real Invisibility Cloak? Whose is it?"  
  
"Mine," said James sanctimoniously. "Bought it a couple of summers ago."  
  
"But they cost ... thousands of Galleons!" said Ariella, impressed.  
  
"Yes, well," said James, "my Aunt Harriet died during June in fourth year. Tragic. She left me an awfully large amount of money ..."  
  
Lily snorted and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"And you spent it on an Invisibility Cloak?"  
  
"Of course, Evans, of course!" James replied. "What else would a Marauder spend his money on?"  
  
"Perhaps you could have used it to get a haircut for starters," said Ariella swiftly.  
  
"Oh ha ha, Higgins," said James dryly. "Anyway, what do you girls think about that?"  
  
"What are we going to do with an Invisibility Cloak, really?" Lily wondered, turning to Ariella.  
  
"Oh, think of the possibilities, Evans!" Sirius said, looking at Lily as though she was stupid. "Imagine, you could sneak down to the kitchens to steal food ... walk around the castle at night ... go places you've never been before ... sneak into our dorm ..." He ticked these options off on his fingers.  
  
"Well?" said Ariella. "What do you think, Lily?"  
  
"It still seems a bit like a rip-off to me ..."  
  
"A bit like a rip-off?" said Sirius disbelievingly. "Evans, this Cloak costs thousands of Galleons."  
  
"I know that," said Lily patiently, "but it's not like we're going out to kiss the hottest guy in the school, are we? This is Snape we're talking about, not ..." Lily smiled -- she had been about to say 'Sirius'. "Not other guys ..." she finished lamely.  
  
She could have sworn that Sirius had flashed a short and sweet smile in her direction while she was trying to avoid eye contact with him.  
  
"All right," said Remus fairly, "how about we throw in the Map as well?"  
  
"Map?" Lily repeated curiously.  
  
"The Marauders Map, Evans," said James, "the secret of our success. We made it back in fifth year; it's a map of Hogwarts and everything in it. You really have to see it to believe it."  
  
"OK then," said Ariella with another of her swift smiles, "we'll take the Map as well, thank you."  
  
"No worries," said Sirius, "but I suppose we'd better explain all this in a bit more detail."  
  
"Er ... yeah," said James, "well. We've got a couple of strands of Scarlett's hair to put into the Potion, right, and so every night one of you two will drink the Potion and assume Scarlett's shape. It'll only be one of you every night, so you only have to do it about three times each -- "  
  
"But what if Scarlett sees us?" Lily asked. "You can't have two Scarletts running around Slytherin House."  
  
"I was just getting to that Evans, stop being so impatient," said James. "Anyway, so you'll go hunt down Snivelly, wherever he lurks at night, and, you know, kinda lead him on. And while our Mirabelle Scarlett is seducing Snivelly, the real Scarlett is spending the night in the second-floor broom cupboard."  
  
Ariella nodded.  
  
"Interesting, to say the least."  
  
"How are you going to get Scarlett into the broom cupboard?" Lily asked innocently.  
  
"Ah, we're going to need the Invisibility Cloak for that," answered Sirius. "We've noticed that she studies in an empty classroom on the second-floor, right next to the broom cupboard, so we'll just drag her in there for a few hours while you're with Snivellus. She won't see us, of course, because we'll be in the Invisibility Cloak."  
  
"But ... what about the Slytherin common room password?" Ariella inquired.  
  
"We've already got that sorted out," said Remus cleverly, "it's 'Cognationis'."  
  
"I won't even ask how you found that out," said Lily quietly.  
  
"So when do we start this?" Ariella said.  
  
"Tomorrow evening, chop chop," said James briskly. "We'll see you in that empty classroom near the first-floor toilets."  
  
"Nice doing business with you," said Sirius with a broad smile, as the Marauders stood up and began to head up to their dormitories, but Sirius insisted on shaking each of the girls hands before following James, Remus and Peter. Long after Sirius had disappeared up the staircase Lily's hand he shook was still tingling.  
  
She turned to Ariella, who looked as though she couldn't believe herself.  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this either, Ariella," said Lily, grinning.  
  
All of a sudden, the girls both started giggling.  
  
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A/N: I'm sorry if you don't like the fact that Wormtail's not in this fanfic much, it's just that I can't bloody stand the little traitor. And don't worry, the romance is coming! Oh yeah, and REVIEW, your reviews are the only things that keep me writing this!  
  
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	3. Chapter Drei

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** Chapter Three **  
  
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Lily and Ariella settled down at the Gryffindor table Sunday morning opposite James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, each of whom grinned at the girls smugly.  
  
"Morning, girls," said James airily, pouring himself some juice. "How's your day been so far?"  
  
"It's been all right," Ariella answered.  
  
"However it's overshadowed by what we're going to do tonight," Lily added.  
  
"You agreed," Sirius pointed out, about to shove some bacon into his mouth.  
  
"I know that," said Lily smoothly, flittering her eyelashes and taking some toast of the pile, "but when I woke up this morning and remembered our deal I thought I must have been off my rocker last night."  
  
"I repeat, you agreed," said Remus.  
  
"Look at the git over there," said James, glaring over to the Slytherin table where Snape was sitting deliberately opposite Mirabelle Scarlett. "You know why we're doing this?"  
  
"Why?" said Lily tonelessly. "Because you're going to be nice for once and put a bit of love in Snape's life?"  
  
"As if," said James snappishly. "We're doing this because we want to confuse the slime ball. During the night our Mirabelle's going to be all over him. During the day Snivelly's going to want to be all over Scarlett like she's his girlfriend, but she's not so he's going to be all confused."  
  
"Isn't Scarlett going to be suspicious if she's kept in a broom cupboard every night by invisible forces?" Ariella wondered aloud.  
  
"Nope," said Sirius straight away.  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"Because, Higgins," Sirius replied, "we're going to use a Memory Charm on her, aren't we? She won't remember a thing by tomorrow morning."  
  
"Oh," said Lily, taking a sip of her juice. "You really have thought this through, haven't you?"  
  
"As always, Evans, as always," James said with one of those smug Potter grins.  
  
*:*:*:*  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this."  
  
Lily and Ariella climbed out of the portrait hole.  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this."  
  
They headed down the seventh-floor corridor.  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this."  
  
Down a narrow staircase.  
  
"I can't believe we're doing this."  
  
Down another staircase that would take them all the way down to the third- floor.  
  
"I can't believe --"  
  
"Oh shut up, Ariella," Lily cut across, as they turned into the third-floor corridor. "I can't believe we're doing this either, but at least I'm not repeating that every twenty-seconds."  
  
"But ... oh what were we thinking?" Ariella said desperately.  
  
Lily didn't answer. She'd been asking herself that very question ever since she woke up that morning.  
  
"So," Lily said hesitantly. "Am -- am I going to be going first this evening, and you go tomorrow?"  
  
"Be my guest," said Ariella.  
  
"Urgh."  
  
Much too soon for both Lily and Ariella's liking, they were outside the empty classroom on the second-floor. Surprisingly, all was quiet. Lily cast an apprehensive look at Ariella, who was biting her lip, and knocked on the wooden door.  
  
The door flew open immediately, and the girls were greeted by a very vociferous Sirius, beaming.  
  
Damn, Lily thought to herself. That bloody gorgeous smile.  
  
"Evans! Higgins! So glad you could make it! Oh, do come in!" He said this as though he were a middle-aged woman welcoming her friends at a tea party. Sirius grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her inside the room. Lily felt as though her arm was on fire where Sirius was holding her, and she could have sworn that the cheeky little bugger was grinning to himself as he did this.  
  
Sirius led Lily over to a seat, Ariella taking a seat next to her. Lily was surprised to discover that neither James nor Remus were in the classroom, and only Peter was in the classroom with Sirius.  
  
"Where are James and Remus?" Ariella asked, apparently wondering the same as Lily.  
  
"Well, I originally sent James off to deal with Scarlett, straight after tea," Sirius replied, taking a seat on the teacher's desk, "but I thought it might be a good idea if Remus went as well, to keep an eye on James and make sure he doesn't get -- er -- naughty -- with Scarlett."  
  
"Ha ha, good thinking Sirius," said Lily, giving him a grin, "that would be just like Potter."  
  
"Not that I can see why anybody would want to get naughty with Scarlett ..." Ariella added.  
  
"So, they're all in that little broom cupboard right now?" Lily said.  
  
"Yep," said Sirius, running his fingers through his hair, "Remus said they were going to Stun her. Anyway, who's going to go tonight?"  
  
"Apparently I get the joy of dressing up as Scarlett this evening," Lily said reluctantly, frowning at Ariella.  
  
"Speaking of dressing up," said Sirius, jumping off the table and grabbing some robes and a tie off of a desk in the far corner, "you'll need to be wearing the Slytherin robes, as I would imagine it would be very suspicious if Mirabelle Scarlett was wearing Gryffindor Robes." He threw the robes at Lily, and she caught them.  
  
"Oh, Sirius?" Ariella asked sweetly, "why aren't any of you doing this? You know ... taking the Polyjuice Potion yourselves and tricking Snape?"  
  
"I would have thought that would have been obvious, Higgins," Sirius answered, sitting back on the desk again. "We're not exactly experienced at being girls, let along seducing other guys."  
  
Lily snorted.  
  
"Would have been funny to watch you, though. Sirius Black macking on Severus Snape, ha."  
  
Sirius grimaced as he took a small bottle of murky purple liquid out of his pocket, and walked over to give that, too, to Lily.  
  
"That there is the Polyjuice Potion, all ready to go," he said, looking down at Lily with a curly smile. He dropped the bottle into her hand, and she caught it. "Make sure you drink it all, Evans."  
  
Sirius Black, that devilishly sexy demon kept Lily's heart cooking like it was on a barbecue.  
  
"I will," Lily replied, standing up and heading out of the room, robes in one hand and bottle in the other, dreamlike, as though she had suddenly been plunged into some sort of daydream.  
  
*:*:*:*  
  
Only minutes later, Lily Evans -- or should we say Mirabelle Scarlett -- walked into the empty classroom to find Ariella and Sirius leaning over the desk, staring at some old piece of parchment.  
  
"This is incredible," said Ariella breathlessly. "Lily, it's the Marauders Map! I could stare at it for ever ..."  
  
Lily strode over, and leant over the Map next to Ariella.  
  
"Wow," said Lily, her eyes wide, "that is amazing." She looked where Ariella's finger was resting on the map, and there were three dots there, labelled 'Lily Evans', 'Ariella Higgins' and 'Sirius Black'.  
  
"Look," said Sirius, pointing to the library area of the Marauders Map, "there's old Snivelly. At the library." He and the girls straightened up, and put his hands on Lily's shoulders and stared straight into her Mirabelle Scarlett grey eyes. "This potion wears off in an hour, so make sure that at," he looked at the clock above the blackboard, "ten past nine you take another sip of that Polyjuice, all right?"  
  
Lily merely nodded; it seemed her throat had closed over from so much contact with Sirius. She turned on her heel and left the classroom, headed for the Library.  
  
It was odd looking down and seeing the Slytherin tie, the Slytherin uniform, and her usual auburn hair swapped for silky black hair that reached well past her shoulders. And being so tall -- she felt slightly more graceful than she did in her Lily body, yet a lot more snootier and conceited. Perhaps some of Scarlett's personality had come through the potion.  
  
She was at the door of the library now, and -- excellent -- there he was, greasy Snape. Time for some -- er -- fun, and time to show the Marauders, not to mention Sirius, that Lily Evans was much, much more than a straight- O, rule-abiding Head Girl.  
  
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A/N: I just noticed in Chapter One that where the love letter is it's all weird, sorry about that, I'll try to neaten it up later. I did have that part in italics but when I uploaded the chapter it got rid of the italics for some reason. And I'm going to make an effort to try and update at least once a week.  
  
Some people have asked if this is a Sirius/Lily ship, and I'll settle with saying that's going to be the most likely romantic pairing here. ;) But remember, there's going to be some surprises ...  
  
And I just have to put a note up here saying that I really, really, REALLY adore each of your reviews! This morning I opened my inbox to find eight new and lovely reviews, what a perfect way to start the day! Reading them makes me feel all tingly, and so happy, it's an almost indescribable feeling. And I know now that I have to finish this story, because so far each of your reviews have been GREAT! Thank you SO much! xoxo DreamingPhoenix  
  
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	4. Chapter Vier

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** Chapter Four **  
  
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Severus Snape was sitting at a table along near the front of the library. Perfect, Lily thought to herself. She swaggered over saucily, careful to wiggle her hips with every step.  
  
"Sn-- Severus," she cooed in Scarlett's, leaning over the table to face him, "what are doing in the library?" She flittered her eyelashes.  
  
Snape's head snapped up.  
  
"Mirabelle! Take a seat ..."  
  
He waved his wand a bit and the chair drew out. Lily took it and leaned in on his books, much too close for comfort.  
  
Urgh, she thought, he was much uglier close-up than he was at a distance.  
  
"What're you doing?" Lily asked, eyebrows raised and twirling her hair around her finger. It was like in the last ten minutes she had become a completely different person both physically and mentally.  
  
"I -- I was studying," Snape said jumpily. Lily fought a strong desire to laugh.  
  
"What?" Lily said, beginning to stroke her neck with her left little finger.  
  
"Just ... just this, Mirabelle," Snape replied. He flipped over the book he had been reading, and Lily saw that it was titled 'Nastily Advanced Dark Arts'.  
  
"The Dark Arts," said Lily softly, her voice almost dropped down whisper. "How ... endearing."  
  
Snape nodded and swallowed, and Lily seriously thought that she would be cracking up laughing any moment. Instead, she smiled mysteriously, untucked Snape's emerald and silver tie out of his jumper, stood up and pulled Snape up with her.  
  
"Why don't you follow me, Severus?" Lily said, licking her lips. She grinned, knowing that Snape could not possibly answer, and led him out of the library.  
  
"W-where are we going, Mirabelle?" Snape finally managed to ask her.  
  
"Oh, you'll see Sevvy, you'll see," Lily said, disgusting herself. It was awful having to come onto Snape, but Lily just wanted to prove that she was no wuss, and that she had guts.  
  
They were still on the second-floor, and Lily spotted an empty classroom at a darkened end of the corridor. Excellent, Lily thought.  
  
"A-are we going in here, Mirabelle?" Snape asked as Lily opened the door silently.  
  
Lily laughed softly. "Of course," she replied. Lily pushed Snape into the room first, and followed him inside.  
  
Lily sat on the teacher's desk, her legs crossed and a come-hither expression on her face. Snape hovered around blackboard, unsure where he should really be.  
  
"Sit in the teacher's chair, Severus," she said. Snape sat down immediately, and Lily spun around on the teacher's desk to face him. Urgh, she thought, look at that ugly wart, right there on his nose. Wait... if she squinted enough... like this... Snape almost looked a bit like Sirius...  
  
"Why are you squinting, Mirabelle?" Snape asked, not taking his eyes off of her.  
  
"Wha-- Oh, no reason," Lily replied quickly, her eyes snapping open properly. "I have something for you, Sevvy," she added sweetly, smoothly slipping down off the desk and onto Snape's lap, a leg either side of his thin body.  
  
"O-oh?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
Lily moved in closer, putting her hand on his bony chest and shutting her eyes tightly. Her lips pressed against his, and with all her will she forced herself to believe that it was Sirius that she was kissing...  
  
She pulled away from Snape, whose eyes were very wide indeed, and snuck a look at the clock. Nine o'clock, ten minutes before the potion would wear off. She'd better wrap things up.  
  
"It's nine o'clock, Sevvy," she said quietly, an arm still around his stiff neck. "Curfew time." Of course, no one paid attention to curfew rules at seventh-year, apart from the sucky Slytherins. "I'm off. But I want to be your girlfriend, Sevvy, and I'm hoping you'll be my boyfriend. See you tomorrow."  
  
Lily pecked Snape again on the cheek (she had her eyes closed when she did this as well), jumped off of Snape's lap swiftly and hurried out of the classroom. When she was out in the corridor, sure that Snape couldn't hear her, she wiped her mouth.  
  
"Yuck!"  
  
*:*:*:*  
  
The Polyjuice Potion wore off just as Lily walked back into the empty classroom where Ariella, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all waiting for her. Lily had changed back into her Gryffindor robes before going back to the empty classroom.  
  
"Lily!"  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"Did you snog him?"  
  
"Was there tongue?"  
  
"No, there was not!" Lily retorted.  
  
"That means you kissed him, then?" Ariella said. James was sniggering and so was Peter, copying whatever James was doing.  
  
"Of course I bloody well did, I wasn't about to wuss out!" Lily said defensively. "Though I did wash my mouth out in the bathroom just before."  
  
The room rang with laughter, and Sirius gave Lily a high-five.  
  
"Did our Mirabelle ask him out?" he said.  
  
"Yeah," Lily replied, grinning. "I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow."  
  
"We have double Potions tomorrow with them, of course we're going to see what happens," said James. "We'll have front row seats."  
  
The six of them thought that they should really be getting back to Gryffindor Tower, and so they headed out of the room and started to climb their way back to the seventh-floor.  
  
Much to Lily's delight, Sirius hung back so he could walk with Lily back up to the Tower.  
  
"I've got to admit, Evans," he said, "you impressed me. You've got guts."  
  
He beamed, and Lily blushed and grinned.  
  
"Thanks," she said, pleased with herself.  
  
They didn't say anything for a while, until they reached the seventh-floor. Suddenly, Lily felt Sirius take her hand gently, taking her by surprise.  
  
"Siri--" she started, but Sirius smiled cheekily back at her, and all of a sudden Lily found it extremely natural.  
  
"Ladies first," he said when they had reached the Fat Lady. He said the password ("Shpinkluck") and let Lily climb in first.  
  
Once they were in the deserted common room, Sirius and Lily stared at each other. Sirius looked at Lily as though she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and Lily self-consciously licked her lips, her mouth extremely dry. She could have sworn that Sirius was just about to lean in and kiss her when James appeared at the bottom of the boys' staircase.  
  
"Sirius, mate, are you coming upstairs?" he said loudly from the base of the staircase.  
  
Sirius's head snapped to James, who he looked at, annoyed.  
  
"Sure, James," Sirius said reluctantly, and he left Lily to head up the staircase. James had gone back up to their dormitory, and Sirius followed, stroking his hair. Before he had climbed out of sight he cast an apologetic look at Lily, and all she could do in return was grin and nod softly.  
  
James, the idiot! she thought furiously. He always ruined everything!  
  
Sighing, Lily thought she might as well go back up to her dormitory, where she hopefully wouldn't have to retell every single thing that had happened with Snape to Ariella before she went to sleep.  
  
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A/N: I'm getting addicted to writing this fanfic. The ideas just keep flooding into my head! I simply cannot wait to write the next few chapters, they're going to be very exciting indeed. Again, make my day and REVIEW. Thanks! xoxo DreamingPhoenix  
  
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	5. Chapter Fünf

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Chapter Five   
  
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Lily and Ariella walked into the Great Hall together at breakfast time on Monday morning, and went to sit down on the side of the Gryffindor table that faced the Slytherin table, alongside James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, so they could watch Snape and Scarlett.  
  
"Mworning," said James through a mouthful of pancake.  
  
"Morning, Potter," said Lily, wishing he could keep his mouth shut while he ate. Remus smiled at Ariella as she took the seat next to him, and Lily sat down on the other side of Ariella.  
  
"Anything happened yet?" Ariella asked, pouring herself some juice.  
  
"No," Remus sighed. "Snape isn't down here yet."  
  
"Probably practicing snogging Scarlett," James said. Ariella made a small whimpy noise in her throat. It was her turn tonight.  
  
Lily buttered her toast and took a bite. She couldn't help but notice that Sirius was being particularly quiet so far today, and rather interested in his breakfast. Lily had the feeling that he was sitting deliberately between Remus and Peter because he was displeased with James for last night's interruption. Of course, Lily thought desperately, she might just be imagining things, and getting her hopes up thinking that Sirius actually liked her.  
  
He was the one that took her hand, not Lily ...  
  
Oh shut up, Lily told her brain.  
  
"Look, here comes the greasy-haired git!" James hissed down the table. Indeed, Snape had just entered the Great Hall behind a tall Ravenclaw boy. In unison, the six Gryffindors dropped whatever they were holding onto their plate, and watched Snape with grins -- apart from James, who was watching with the usual smirk on his face, present whenever his pranks were taking place.  
  
Scarlett glared at Snape as he sat down cosily beside her with her usual screwed-up snooty expression, except when he sat down beside her it was mingled with a bit of disgust. Scarlett shuffled away from Snape to be closer to her friend, while Snape apparently tried to make conversation. Scarlett answered quickly and snappishly, and then carried on talking to her friend.  
  
"Check out his face," Ariella observed. Snape poured himself some juice, frowning, obviously confused by Scarlett's behaviour. Her hand was resting on the table.  
  
"He's looking at her hand," said Remus.  
  
"He's going to --" James began, but before he had finished Snape had taken an obvious and nervous deep breath, and placed his hand on Scarlett's.  
  
"You _FREAK_!" Scarlett's voice echoed around the Great Hall where at least half of the school was having breakfast, and at the Gryffindor table Lily, Ariella and the boys were watching with expressions of absolute glee. Too pleased to laugh just yet, they looked on at Snape and Scarlett. Snape's crooked face was distorted with surprise, clearly disbelieving what had just happened. Scarlett stormed out of the Hall, her nose in the air, looking seriously offended.  
  
Lily and Ariella began to giggle madly, and the laughter spread right through the group to James, who started rocking back and forth in his chair, positively in stitches. Sirius and Remus high-fived -- yes, even Remus found this amusing. Peter swung his short little legs and laughed into his plate, while Lily and Ariella continued giggling, their hands covered over their mouths to stifle the noise. Lily wondered if any of the teachers might be just a bit suspicious of them giggling so much at their table. The Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, certainly seemed to be looking in their direction.  
  
:::  
  
Ariella took the bottle of Polyjuice Potion in one hand, and the Slytherin robes under her other arm, and headed out of the empty classroom to the nearby bathroom, leaving Sirius, Lily and Peter to watch the events on the Marauder's Map.  
  
"I will be all right, won't I, Lily?" Ariella asked anxiously before she went to get changed.  
  
"Sure," Lily replied. "Look at me, I'm alive and kicking -- at the moment."  
  
Ariella winced.  
  
"Oh, Ariella, trust me!" Lily said. She lowered her voice. "If you kiss him ... pretend that it's Remus!"  
  
Ariella lightened up. "Oh! Y'know, that's a good idea, Lily!"  
  
Lily winked and let Ariella go get ready.  
  
"_So_," said Lily, jumping up to sit on a table next to the one Sirius was at, watching over the Marauder's Map, "what do we do now?"  
  
Sirius looked up and grinned at Lily quickly. "Wait, Evans. It's what we did last night."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Lily examined her fingers absent-mindedly and swung her legs, very conscious of the fact that she was in the same room as Sirius, alone. Well, almost alone. Peter was there, but he barely counted.  
  
"Erm ... Lily?" Sirius said, perhaps slightly nervously, but maybe Lily imagined that. "D'you want to watch the map? Over here?"  
  
"Oh!" said Lily. "Sure!"  
  
Lily hopped off her table and leant over the next table to survey the map, her side pressed next to Sirius'. And she liked it.  
  
"So, where are we, Sirius?" Lily asked softly.  
  
"Uh ... _there_," Sirius answered, reaching his arm across Lily's body to point to a room, which had three labelled dots in a small classroom; the two labelled 'Sirius Black' and 'Lily Evans' very close together, and the 'Peter Pettigrew' dot was wandering around by the window.  
  
"Wow," Lily breathed. "How on _earth_ did you ever make this map? Was it hard?"  
  
"It was ... difficult, yes," Sirius answered smoothly, "but with the help of a big old Charm book from the Restricted Section, and our own knowledge of the school grounds, of course, we managed it in a few weeks."  
  
"You're brilliant," said Lily softly, and Lily and Sirius' looked at each other. Lily stared into the silvery excitement of Sirius' eyes, and Sirius stared back into the emerald wonder of Lily's eyes. The temperature could have been soaring in the space between their faces.  
  
Sirius straightened up and promptly looked behind him to check what Peter was doing, obviously remembering that Peter was in the room as well.  
  
"Oh! Erm ... Wormtail? Peter? Professor McGonagall is snooping pretty close to where James and Remus have Scarlett, in the broom cupboard. You might want to ... I dunno, distract her? I dunno. Do something? See you later, Peter."  
  
Peter obeyed Sirius' command headed out of the room. Sirius walked over to the window where Peter had been, and started running his hands through his hair, staring out at the many towers and turrets of Hogwarts Castle. Lily began examining her fingers again.  
  
Sirius spun around, dropped his hands from his head and looked Lily straight in the eye, his mouth slightly open. Lily looked at Sirius with wide eyes.  
  
"L-Lily!" said softly, his mouth opening and closing a lot, lost for words. "I ... er ... um. Last night, Lily, before James came in ... remember?"  
  
"Yes, I do remember, Sirius," said Lily. She stood up.  
  
"Well Lily, I ..."  
  
Sirius weaved his way through the desks to stand in front of Lily. Lily didn't dare to examine how she felt at that moment.  
  
"_Lily_," Sirius breathed, tucking a piece of crimson hair that had fallen on her face behind her ear. He put his hand on her cheek, and ...  
  
The door flew open, and Mirabelle Scarlett stood in the door way, tears rolling down her face. Sirius snapped up straight and put one hand on his waist while the other trailed through his hair again, and Lily sat back down on the table, her heart still beating like a drum and her eyes still quite large.  
  
"I ... I can't do it! I saw him in the corridor with his greasy hair and pimples and ... oh Lily, I can't do it!" she said, wiping her eyes.  
  
"It's OK, Ariella," said Lily. She jumped off her table, guided her to a chair and sat her down. "It's fine."  
  
"I'm so sorry Sirius," said Ariella, turning to face him. "I'm just so sorry."  
  
Sirius took a breath.  
  
"Yes," he said dryly. "Personally, it would give me nightmares for many years." He turned to Lily. "We've still got time. You can do it tonight. There's plenty of Polyjuice left."  
  
"Tonight?" said Lily.  
  
"You did a brilliant job last night, Lily," said Sirius. "Surely you can do it again tonight? Please?"  
  
Lily frowned and sighed. How could she resist?  
  
"Oh, I suppose I could. Give me the robes and the potion."  
  
:::  
  
Lily, assuming the form of Scarlett, strode down the corridor by the dungeons, following the steps that Snape had taken on the Map. He had been heading to their common room slowly, which was good for Lily, because if she walked fast enough she could perhaps catch up.  
  
While Lily hurried down the corridor, her mind was going ten times faster than she was walking. The little flask of spare Polyjuice Potion was jingling in her pocket, and so was her brain. Sirius had definitely come onto her in the classroom back there, there wasn't a doubt in her mind. Hell, he almost kissed her ... and right now Lily felt that she could murder Ariella for coming in at that very moment!  
  
Where the heck was she going? These passages were like mazes, the entry to the common room was well hidden. Snape had definitely been lurking around this area, the map told her that -- there's that suit of armour that he passed when Lily was looking at the Map up in the classroom. He was moving so slowly, he couldn't be far away ...  
  
Lily had just rounded yet another corner, and there he was, skulking down the passage about fifty feet ahead.  
  
"Sevvy," Lily cooed in her most sultry voice, running up to Snape, "I've been looking everywhere for you!"  
  
Snape spun around on his slimy little feet and faced Lily.  
  
"M-Mirabelle?" he said, an eyebrow raised. "We saw each other in the corridor before, and you ran off ..."  
  
Oh crap, Lily thought.  
  
"Um ... yes! I know! But that was because, ah, I remembered I had to quickly send an owl to ... um, someone."  
  
"Oh," said Snape. "Was Magie there?"  
  
"Magie?" Lily asked, puzzled.  
  
"Your owl's name is Magie ..."  
  
"Oh ... oh! Yes, that's right!" said Lily hurriedly. Because of all the time she'd wasted looking for Snape, she only had twenty minutes left in Scarlett's form. "Come on, Sevvy, in this dungeon right here ..."  
  
"But Mirabelle," said Snape, as Lily pushed him into the dungeon, "this morning you ..."  
  
Lily rolled her eyes, with a grin on her face.  
  
"Sevvy, I'm sorry," she said dismissively, forcing Snape down onto an old wooden bench, "but I thought you were Lucius Malfoy, and to be quite honest he really gives me the creeps ..."  
  
"Oh ... OK, Mirabelle," said Snape. Snape didn't get much more of a chance to talk, because Lily had leaped on him and shoved her chest in his face.  
  
"How're you feeling, Sevvy?" she asked, leaning back, stroking his bony chest with her finger.  
  
"I ... I ..."  
  
"Now, Sevvy, remember what we talked about last night? I really think that we should, like, _get together_, and one day we'll go _all the way_."  
  
Snape gulped loudly.  
  
Lily continued with the sexy seductism for few more minutes, kissing him as few times as she could get away with. Each time she used her old trick of pretending it was Sirius, pretending she was kissing him, not ugly Snape, something she had come so close to doing earlier in the evening ...  
  
"W-what's that in your pocket?" Snape asked, and Lily eased off him. "That hard thing?"  
  
"Oh," replied Lily. "It's -- er -- just a little flask of pumpkin juice I take with me anywhere."  
  
Lily snuck a glimpse of her watch, and saw that her hour was almost up. She pulled out the flask of Polyjuice and took another quick sip.  
  
"Ahhh. That's better. Now ..."  
  
Lily resumed, and leant over Snape again. She gave him another kiss and shoved herself on top of him again.  
  
"M-Mirabelle?"  
  
"What?" Lily said, puzzled.  
  
"My hands ..."  
  
Lily leant off him again and looked at his hands. The skin ... it looked like it was boiling or something ... oh, no, it couldn't be ... Snape was turning into Scarlett as well!  
  
Lily knew that she had to get out, and she had to get out fast.  
  
"Oh, gosh, it's late Sevvy! I really must go... ciao, Sevvy!"  
  
Lily jumped off, leaving a transforming Snape there on the table, and sprinted away.  
  
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**A/N:** I apologise SO, SO MUCH for not getting this chapter up as quick as the others! A few of you have been reviewing and asking where the next chapter is, and I've been feeling so guilty, so I sat myself down today and finished the chapter! My excuse is that I've had a LOT of homework and, unfortunately, homework does come before fanfics, according to my parents at least. Stupid English and German teachers, giving me so many essays ... hmph. I'm in Australia and I don't have summer holidays now, but I do have a short break where I might be able to squeeze in a few more chapters.  
  
This chapter is about twice as long as normal, so you've got a bit of a treat. :)  
  
So. Never fear, the chapter's FINALLY here! It's starting to get interesting now! I'm planning to wrap this up at ten chapters, so it's not going to go on forever (lol), but believe me, there's plenty that's going to happen between here and the end of chapter ten! Perhaps I'll write a sequel ... I'm thinking about it.  
  
Last, I REALLY appreciate every single review I get! I have around 30 now, and they've all been brilliant! I couldn't be more pleased with how my first fanfic is going! So, **REVIEW** if you love me ... hehe, mwah! xoxo DreamingPhoenix  
  
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